"Leaving leaving"

Hi friends,

A quick update from Nick and me….

We’re still on the ship in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.  We’ve been maintaining a “quarantine bubble” along with our fellow crew members for 70 days! 

If you missed our last newsletter, here’s a link to it: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bDIlVOtp_qBi7_UUY80Uzii0WLGVpd2t/view?usp=sharing

Our days are spent working in other departments (housekeeping for both of us) and finishing documentation from our “normal” jobs.  We’re both busy writing road maps for the people who come after us in our work in the Operating Room and MCB (Medical Capacity Building).

The major update is that we have tickets to Brisbane in a week’s time – the plan (unless there are flight changes, which is common right now) is that we’ll leave next Sunday the 31^st and arrive in Australia on 2^nd June.  We’ll need to do a 2-week quarantine in a hotel, and then we’ll get started with what comes next!

The main thing right now is preparing to go because we are “leaving leaving”… around here it means something different when you say it twice.  It’s a common conversation on the ship – “oh are you going?  Are you coming back or are you LEAVING leaving?”  So yes, we are leaving with a capital “L”.  haha. 

Even before all the COVID changes, we had decided that this would be our last outreach (for now anyway) and we feel God moving us in new directions.  It’s time to invest into our lives in one of our passport countries, and we are looking forward to it!  I’d like to grow an herb garden, I think.

Blessings over you, friends, wherever you are right now!  And do please pray for us in the coming days as we walk through goodbyes and grief, change.  We see SO many good gifts from God.  He’s opening doors for us, and our next steps are becoming more clear. 

We’re gathering up the sweet gifts of time in this community we love…. Here’s a few photos of recent happenings….(this is a great place to be in quarantine, with 200 family members!)

The newest muster station name callers for drills and ship emergencies.
It's very windy so we had a hard time keeping those yellow hats on.  During the field service we wouldn't normally have roles like this because I'm in the OR and Nick is often off-ship.

    

Nick hosted a penalty shoot-out tournament on Deck 7 (there's a netted area there that kept the ball mostly on deck...it escaped once and was amazingly rescued from blowing into the sea by Rodrigo)

Selfie 1  = day of the last surgery

Selfie 2 = a few weeks later...a receptionist, housekeeper, and cook

  

 

Nick and team have been doing weekly video in-services with the team in Senegal, and they've had people joining in from the ship, Senegal, Madagascar, England, Australia and America!  It's gone really well!

Operating Room (what was left of us at the time!) serving ice cream

This song has become and anthem for many during this season, and for us too! 

Celebrating a 10 year journey!

It's been 10 years since Nick first boarded the Africa Mercy!

Nick first joined Mercy Ships as in Togo on 15 February 2010.  

I found a few quotes from Nick's first blog post that made me smile....

"So I arrived last Monday and the first thing they did was take a photo of me for my ID badge, which isn’t the best thing after a 16 hour journey when your looking like a raccoon in head lights...anyways they don’t waste anytime here, I had to get up at 5am to go to the first of the screening days"

"Now I’m slowly learning what exactly I will be doing on board - but basically I am the hospital’s physio - so i will be doing some burns work, mainly kids Ortho and some Maxillo-facial. I also found out that I will be involved in rolling out this Ponseti program in Togo..."

"anyways so that’s about it ... my French is definitely coming along and I reckon ill be speaking some form of French when I get back (not sure how good though)"

"Its funny the ship is starting to feel like home..."

Well done, Nick!!! I'm so proud of who you are.  

Happy New Year!

Just a quick update to say Happy New Year to our friends and family!

Suzanne about to head to work in the OR,
 and Nick heading off to a meeting at a local hospital

We're with the ship in Senegal!  After our 5 months in N'zao, Guinea at the beginning of 2019, we went back to living on board the ship in August and sailed in to Dakar, where the ship will be docked until June 2020.


Nick is busily up to doing what he does best - treating clubfoot kiddos, building relationships, and working together with a really great team of people.  The Mercy Ships team is working together with a team of four pediatric surgeons from a big public children's hospital in Dakar.

Clubfoot team photo after running an advanced clubfoot course in September

They currently have 12 kids in treatment, and will start again with another group of kids in January.  The Dakar team has been really encouraged by the results they are getting together, and has really seen what the Ponseti method can achieve, even in kids who are older (they are treating several kids around the age of 10 years) 

Team ice cream outing

Presenting Certificates at the end of the course

I have continued working in our operating rooms, which has included being a team leader two surgical specialties - plastics reconstructive and orthopedics.  Our OR team is constantly changing, with many nurses, surgeons and anesthesia providers coming for 2-3 weeks.  Every Monday, our team is slightly different.  

OR 1 has been my home for the last several months, both plastics and ortho surgeries happen here

Team leading means coordinating many aspects of the patient care (seeing each patient before they come to the OR, making sure that we have the correct supplies available for each case, etc), and also doing a lot of communication to keep the team on the same page.  Our teams are normally a mix of crew have visited the ship in the past, and people who have come for the first time, and we usually have people from 4-5 different countries working together in each room.  It's a very special hospital, and I love being a part of it!

Here's a couple team selfies from the past months...there are many more faces than this (this is just what I had on my phone at the moment)...thank you to everyone who I've had the joy to work with since surgeries started in August!

We've really begun to fall in love with Senegal, and we're looking forward to the second half of our visit and the months ahead.  At the moment, we are enjoying a few days off ship at the beach- a nice break after some busy months and before we jump into January.

Happy New Year, friends!  Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!

Update – a short season “off ship”

Update from us - we are headed to the states for a leave of absence from Mercy Ships over the holidays!  This has been in the works for some time, and we actually departed the ship yesterday evening.  

Here's what is coming up for us:

1- Spend the holiday season in the United States, and have some precious, intentional time with family

2- Return to Guinea at the end of January

3 - Continue serving as Mercy Ships crew, but we will be located off-ship in the interior of Guinea for the remainder of the ship’s visit.  We will be visiting Hope Medical Center (here’s their webpage), where Nick has previously taught the Ponseti method.  (see more details below)

We knew that we would have this break coming up when we went into the busy season of Advance and program set-up here in Guinea.  We chose to do this for a few reasons.  We’re into the 4^th year of our service since returning to the ship as a married couple.  We love being here and serving here, but know that it’s also good to have time away from the intensity of life on board.  We love our work, and we want to be wise in how we serve.  We’re very happy to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with family in the states- last time we had Christmas there was in 2013 before we got engaged!  

A recent photo of Nick at work in the clinic - I love the look that kiddo is giving him, haha! :-)

The Ponseti program in Conakry is left in VERY good hands: Aisling (physical therapist from the UK who is leading the team), Ashley (Physical Therapist from USA) and Marina (nurse from Switzerland who has worked on the ponseti program for the last two years).  

After the holidays and when we return to Guinea, we will be continuing our season “off ship”.  We are still serving with Mercy Ships, but we will be working at a hospital in the interior of the country called Hope Medical Center.  Hope has partnered with Mercy Ships in different ways over the years, and Nick went to teach the Ponseti method to some of the staff at Hope in 2014.  Sadly, he was not able to stay and complete the whole program due to the Ebola crisis, which originated not far from the area.  We are thrilled to be able to return there together, and continue the partnership that began in 2014.  We want to support Hope in whatever ways we can so that they continue to have a flourishing clubfoot clinic!  One important aspect of clubfoot treatment is wearing braces on a special schedule.  In addition to treating patients together, Nick and another trainer will teach a special course on brace making.  I will work together with Nick on the Ponseti program and other areas as needed. 

Leaving the ship is bittersweet right now- I (Suzanne) am so looking forward to the months ahead, but I also dearly love my teammates and our community here on board the ship.  To our colleagues on board – we want GOOD things for you, we pray blessings over you, and we know that God is with you in the coming months.  When I think about you, Jesus’s words from John come to mind- “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”  I am cheering you on, Africa Mercy Crew – and may one of the ways that you love and serve the country of Guinea be your example of loving and serving one another. Know that we will be missing you!

Paper Plan to Ponseti Clinic

Hey Team,

It’s been a busy start to the Guinea field service but here’s a little update of one of the things we’ve been up to.

Setting up the Ponseti Clinic
Thanks to Eliphaz (infrastructure manager) and his team, a Paper Plan has been transformed into an amazing space that we call home and the Ponseti Clinic.

This is where our Ponseti Mentoring Program will be based during the Guinea 2018/2019 field service.

Here are some pics of the amazing transformation.

Main Treatment Room

Main Treatment Room (view from other end)

Minor Procedure Room 

Ok that's it for now, it’s been a lot of work but thanks to everyone who helped get the the Ponseti Clinic up and running.  

God is Good. 

Nick